Do you know that a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has revealed that under-inflated and worn tires increase the likelihood of a crash?

Do not be ignorant about the tires that move you around on the road. You should know that the only things that separate you from the ground or road are the tires in your vehicle. If you have a car or you drive a vehicle and you don’t know anything about the tires that move you around’ it is nothing but an ignorant mistake that must be corrected for the betterment of all road users. I asked some drivers questions about the tires in their vehicles but unfortunately, they could not provide any answer to my questions. The truth of the matter is that, most drivers lack basic information they need to know about the tires in their vehicles. Obviously, there is lot of information written or printed on both sidewalls of your tires that, you need to know them for safety purpose.

Moreover, if you want to buy a new tire such information will help and guide you to buy the right tire, so you will not be confused or deceived by those desperate tire sellers who aim to sell their tires at all cost without considering the tire’s specifications needed for your car.

Take time to know the information on your tire

However, when you look at any given tire, you will notice some small printings or markings on the side wall of the tire; these may appear to you as confusing jargon. Do you know why? It is because you don’t know the significance of some of these sidewall printings or information. You do not know what all this stuff really mean in a regular terms that is why they appear to you like unnecessary jargon but in the real sense they are unavoidable information you need to know about the tires in your car. However, I wish to let you know that each section of the small print on your tire’s sidewall means something and you need to take your time to know them. Nevertheless, let us take a critical look on some of the information on your tire.

The types of tire you need to know

(1) When you see a letter ‘P’ on a tire that tells the type of tire it is and it simply means that the tire is a passenger vehicle tire. A private vehicle and public transport vehicle can use such a tire.

(2) When you see the letters ‘LT’ on a tire it is another type of tire you also need to know. It simply means the tire is for a light truck vehicle. For instance, if you have a truck e.g. a pick-up van and you want to replace the tire with a new tire then, do not buy a tire that carries letter ‘P’ rather look for a tire that carries letters ‘LT’ for your truck.

(3) Another type of tire is a tire that carries letter ‘T’ it means that such tire can be used temporarily or as a spare tire. These are the main types of tire we have.

Public transport is the kind of transport that is meant for the public which is concerned with the movement of people and goods or any object from one area of collection to another area call destination.

The Public Transport Providers

This kind of transport can be provided by both public and private agencies. For instance, it is public when it is provided by the government and it is private when it is provided by private individual. However, whether is provided by the government or private individual since it is meant to provide service to the public, they are referred to as public transport. Public transport can be provided by all the mode of transport such as road, rail, air and water transportation. However, this article focuses more on road transportation.

Macro and Micro Transportation

Public transport could be macro and micro transportation. It is macro transportation when it carries people and goods in a large scale and it is micro transportation when it carries people and goods on a small scale e.g. taxicab, motorcycle, tricycle and so on.

Qualities of Public Transport

However, public transport is expected to provide quality service to its users anytime or any day. Quality service in transport means the extent to which public transport service providers meet the desired expectations of its customers (passengers). Such expectations include:

Safety

Reliability

Cheap and Affordable.

Fast

Convenience and comfort.

User’s information.

Benefits of Public Transport to the Society

Having talked about customers’ expectation from public transport provider, it is equally important to talk about its benefits to the society where it operates. In other words, it must help to protect and improve the society where it functions. However, public transport provides the following benefits not only to its customers but to the society at large .Such benefits, among others include;

It reduces the rate of accident in the society.

Although, mass transit do have accident but it is much lower when you compare it to the rate of accident by private cars or vehicles. According to, National Safety Council (USA), estimated that public transport is over 170 times safer than private cars.

It is economical and efficient.

Public transport is able to accomplish a purpose of carrying fairly large number of people and goods at once than what private vehicles can carry. More also, it is an economical transportation. It is more economical than any other form of travel. For example, a research carried out by Brooking Institution and American Enterprise Institute revealed that public transport in U.S. uses approximately half of the fuel required by cars, SUV’s and light trucks.

It supports the green environment.

Private vehicles produce much more of carbon monoxide that depletes the ozone layer. The use of public transport reduces the carbon monoxide thereby, contributes to the green environment. In other words, mass transit makes our environment more sustainable by polluting less when compared to private motorized transport.

It creates jobs and also create economic boost to the area of job locations. It makes jobs, services and other amenities accessible.

It is also a notable means of reducing traffic congestion.

It supports social justice by providing affordable and cheap transport service to the rich and the poor.

Conclusion

It is not a gain saying that public transport has huge benefits but the only way to achieve these benefits is when it is highly patronized in the society. However, on the other hand, a transport company must be aware that a good transport system is made up of good transport services, good employment for transport staff and good management, so as to provide transport that is safe, reliable, fast, convenience, cheap and affordable for all its prospective customers.

Road transport is the oldest mode of transportation that still plays an important role to the modern economy. In fact, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, road transport contributes not less than ninety percent (90%) to the GDP from transport-related activities.

Its accessibility and flexibility coupled with mass production of automobile by different manufacturers make the road transportation paramount in our daily activities hence the need for road management in our society becomes inevitable. The problems of road transport are more than building the highways. For instance, in 1990 Nigeria had over one hundred and eight thousand (108,000) km surface road net work, which is the highest road net work in West Africa and second in sub Sahara region. Currently, road net work in Nigeria is more than one hundred and ninety four thousand (194,000) km.

Despite, the high numbers of road net work, the road users still encounter different traffic problems virtually every day. According to Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMW&H), the annual loss due to bad road is valued to eight (8) billion naira, while operating cost resulting from bad roads is valued at N53.8 billion.

Road net work is not the road problem in Nigeria.

At this point, it is important to note that, some of the traffic problems encountered on our highways generally come as a result of deplorable condition of the road and not the road net work itself. These problems were however, worsened by lack of good maintenance of the existing transport facilities. For instance, let us imagine an over loading lorry abandoned its track in a bid to evade one pot hole or the other on highway may pose a serious danger to other road users.

Furthermore, statistics available at Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in 2009 shows, that 8 out of every accident were caused by pot-holes in Nigeria. This is a clear point of poor road maintenance which shows that we lack good road management structure.

The incorrect conception of a good road

In Nigeria, to have good roads to average road users simply means construction of new roads and building of highways which may not even stand the test of time due to poor construction while the contractors make huge amount of money from such contracts. This is the basis of poor road infrastructure which cut across all level of governments. What a misconception indeed!

Importance of Road maintenance

Meanwhile, the objectives of the federal road development project in Nigeria are: “ To reduce passenger travel times; vehicle operating cost and traffic related facilities or targeted federal roads and assist federal government of Nigeria to manage Nigeria Federal road assets in sustainable manner” However, as important the objectives are they can never be achieved by building roads and highways alone. It calls for proper maintenance and management of existing national highways or roads. The basic objective of road maintenance is to ensure that the road is constructed or made to maintain its original condition throughout its designed life. Road maintenance is intended to slow down the road deterioration and it should begin on the first day after the roads construction or improvement works are completed. Road maintenance is important in the following ways:

It prolongs the life of the road by reducing the rate of deterioration thereby, safe guarding previous investments in construction and rehabilitation of the road.

It lowers the cost of operating vehicles on the roads by providing a smooth running surface.

It keeps the roads open for traffic and contributes to more reliable transport services.

It sustains social and economic benefits.

It reduces the accident rate if the road users are safety conscious.

The effect of regular and timely maintenance is to increase the life span of the road by putting off the date at which it needs to be re-constructed. This will provide a higher rate of return on the initial investment. However, it can be argued that the construction of any road that consumes a large amount of money as the case always is in Nigeria is of limited importance, if there is no effective maintenance afterwards.

The problem of inadequate funding and untimely maintenance of road infrastructure in Nigeria has been a great concern to me and other road users, although, much efforts have been made in road construction in different state, local and federal levels by governments while proper maintenance of the road itself has lagged behind.

Factors responsible for poor road infrastructure

Road management as it were, in real sense, involve all factors needed for a good road infrastructure which include, adequate funding, good construction, adequate safety, good research, good maintenance culture, trained traffic officials, capable authorities and agencies such as FERMA, VIO, FRSC etc at federal level, LASTMA, TIMARIV, OYTMA, etc at state level.

Besides, some of our roads are plagued by numbers of problems which include faulty engineering designs, inadequate drainage system, poor maintenance culture to mention but a few. In addition, over loading vehicles and heavy duty vehicles often cause premature road deterioration on our roads. All these problems have resorted in littered pot-holes, washing away of pavement, and collapse of bridges and so on, in some of Nigeria roads.

Major solution to poor road infrastructure

To put a stop to these problems, awaiting new road contract is not in enough, while the existing roads are deteriorating virtually every day with little or no maintenance. Enough effort should be made by the government at all levels, private individuals and agencies concerned to ensure proper maintenance of roads.

It is a known fact that lack of access is a key determinant of poverty. Without access communities will face greater obstacles in obtaining health, education and other social services. In addition, ability to take advantage of surplus agric produce in the rural areas and employment opportunities will be severely constrained, if there’s no better access. Therefore, roads are the key element in provision of physical access. Hence, the benefits of building roads are short-lived, if the roads are not maintained.

Conclusion

However, when a new contract is awarded to a contractor, patriotic qualified engineers from the side of the government should monitor and ensure that the road construction is made according to the specification in the contract agreement. By this, building a good road that will stand the test of time with good maintenance culture would go a long way to reducing accident rate, lowering vehicle operating cost and sustaining social and economic activities in our society.

Do you know air bags pose a potential risk for passengers who are shorter than average, and the little children?

Although airbag saves lives, yet it could be dangerous, if necessary precautions are not taken. In fact, it may kill, that is why airbag safety precautions are necessary. For instance, airbag is dangerous to children of age twelve (12) and below. This is because the speed at which airbag inflates when there is a collision may cause a severe injury or kill the occupants who are too close to the airbag. However, it is better for children to ride in the center of the back seat.

Never put an infant (less than one year old) in the front seat of a car with a passenger side airbag.

Infant must always ride facing the rear of the car.

Make sure everyone is buckled up. Unbuckled occupants can be hurt or killed by an airbag.

If your vehicle has a passenger side airbag, do not use a rear facing restraint in the front seat. The only exception is if there no back seat and there is a switch to deactivate the passenger bag. If there is no switch the children should not ride in such a vehicle.

According to a New York Times article, government statistics have shown that, in 1996, 19 “short statured” people, most of whom were not wearing seat belts, have died as a result of air bags crashes they otherwise could have survived.

Since it does not hurt to be safety courteous hence, these precautions are important to make our airbags safer.

According to data from the Walk Score team, here are the 25 best American cities for public transit.

The transit score bases on how well a particular location or an area is served by public transport. However, the team used open data released by local public transit agencies as a basis for the ranking. In addition, only those cities that provide open public transit data in America were ranked.